Phenomenal Friday-Don’t Be Deluded By Perfection, Forgiveness Takes Time!

burned my heart Photo Credit

 

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and to realise the prisoner was you. ~Lewis B. Smedes

I have forgiven not because I wanted to amend relationships but rather to free myself from the seething that burned my heart each time I reflected on that person that needed forgiving or the thing I needed to forgive myself for. However! I’m not Saint worthy, those forgiveness is in my heart, there are still a few underlying things the soul refuses to let go. Has it made me bitter? Nope! But it has made me cautious and more aware of my short falls.

Don’t be deluded by perfection. Even a rose has its flaws. The thing that makes life bearable is understanding the fact forgiveness takes time, it’s not something that happens in a miniature, an hour or even a day. Yes in a moment you can decide you want to forgive but it won’t happen in that moment, we will always find it hard  forgive some people and there are some actions we will find  difficult to forgive ourselves for  because in the grand scheme of things, we are flawed, perfection as we have defined it, is not in our genetic make up.

 

While I agree with my opening quote to a certain degree, I have accepted my flaws and  that I will always be a prisoner of some unforgiven thing.  However, its up me to determine how  heavy or difficult I want that burden of that unforgiven thing to be. Do I carry it around in our pocket or do you need I wheel barrow?

 

Here are some awesome quotes by Lewis B. Smedes on Forgiveness:

“You can forgive someone almost anything. But you cannot tolerate everything… We don’t have to tolerate what people do just because we forgive them for doing it. Forgiving heals us personally. To tolerate everything only hurts us all in the long run.”

“When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.”

“Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.”

“You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.”

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This is my submission to Debbie’s Forgiving Friday  series, where she writes about and invite others to share their thoughts on  Forgiveness, Self-Love and Personal Growth.

~Happy Friday

@Etta  D. Richards

 

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